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  she asked, holding up their linked hands.

  “I don’t know,” he said with a curious tilt of his head. “But it feels

  right, doesn’t it? Look, why don’t you tell me what’s really

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  bothering you about being seen with me. Are you afraid of people

  talking?”

  “Yes and no. You don’t understand because you haven’t been

  here long enough, but those popular people have something

  against me, and some of them go out of their way to be mean to

  me. I’ve never fit in with them.”

  “And you never will,” he told her seriously. “No matter where you

  go you are going to be different, Helen. It’s about time you got used

  to it.”

  “I am used to it! I’ve had my whole life to get used to it!” she exclaimed

  as they drove into the school parking lot.

  “Good. Now stop freaking out and listen for a sec. Those guys

  weren’t staring at us because they hate you. They were staring at us

  because they couldn’t figure out how the hell I convinced a girl who

  tried to strangle me the other week to get in my car and go out for

  coffee.”

  “Oh, yeah. I forgot about that,” Helen said to the ground, getting

  out of the car. She tossed her bag over her shoulder.

  “And I’d like to go back to forgetting about it. If we never talk

  about trying to kill each other again, it would be fine with me,” Lucas

  said quietly. He took her hand firmly in his and pulled her up

  against him so that her shoulder was touching his arm as they

  walked into school.

  Everyone was staring. The halls were lined with blank faces and

  slack jaws as conversations were momentarily halted and then continued

  twice as loud when Helen and Lucas passed. Helen tried to

  pull her hand out of Lucas’s, but he resisted at first. Finally, he let

  go when he realized that Helen was not just being modest, she was

  about to panic.

  “Lennie?” Claire called out warily. Helen smiled briefly at Lucas

  and veered in Claire’s direction.

  “Where were you all weekend?” Claire asked, eyeing Lucas

  suspiciously.

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  “Did you try to call me?” Helen asked, grateful for an excuse to

  pry herself away from Lucas and hopefully away from all the

  stares.

  “Like, five times. What happened to you?”

  “My phone broke,” Helen said apologetically. Then she turned to

  Lucas. “I have to stop at my locker before homeroom. Thanks for

  the ride,” she told him bluntly.

  “Okay. I’ll see you later then,” he said, accepting his dismissal as

  gracefully as he could. When he was no more than three steps

  away, Claire grabbed Helen’s arm and dragged her toward her

  locker.

  “What the holy hand grenade was that?” Claire practically

  shouted. Helen shushed her as she wrestled with her locker

  combination.

  “We had a long talk,” Helen said quickly. “We don’t hate each

  other anymore.”

  “A talk? Yeah, right. I’m sure tongues were involved but for some

  reason I don’t think much language was used.” Claire looked angry,

  but Helen was suddenly angrier.

  “Stop it, Claire! I mean it! I had a really rough weekend. I’m sorry

  I didn’t think to call you last night but my father was pissed at me

  for leaving him stranded at the airport.”

  “Well, tell me about it now then!” Claire replied defensively. “Not

  like you have to say anything. Everyone can see that you and Lucas

  are suddenly a couple.”

  “I don’t know what we are, but it’s not something I can sum up

  with an easy label like ‘couple,’ okay?” Stressed, Helen shuffled

  through her books and realized that she hadn’t done any of her

  homework.

  “Why can’t you just be honest with me? You slept with him,”

  Claire accused her. Her eyes were hurt. Helen knew she couldn’t

  shut her out entirely.

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  “Honestly? I did sleep with him. Twice. But not the way you

  think,” she said frankly. She turned Claire around and steered

  them both to Hergie’s. “We’ve never even kissed.”

  “Rubbish!” Claire declared, stopping dead in the middle of the

  hall.

  “Ask him yourself. You’ve got classes with him all day,” Helen responded,

  perfectly serious. The bell rang and they both had to run

  the last few steps to make it through the door before Hergie closed

  it.

  Helen had a terrible morning. Several teachers considered giving

  her detention for not doing her homework and every single girl in

  school was furious with her for getting a ride with Lucas. Helen’s

  relationships with the girls in her class had always been strained.

  For years she’d gone out of her way to be nice to them, but she’d finally

  given up when she noticed that if she kept her head down and

  her mouth shut she could slide under the radar.

  That was all over now that she had been seen coming to school

  with Lucas. She had crossed some sort of imaginary line, broken

  the truce that she had entered into by refusing to compete, and

  they’d declared war on her. All day long, Helen found that if she

  looked anywhere but at the board or her desk she was shot nasty

  looks. To top everything else off, Gretchen was whispering vicious

  rumors about Helen to anyone who would listen, and Claire was

  still upset.

  Helen couldn’t help but smile with relief when she saw Lucas at

  his locker before lunch. He seemed to be the only person in the entire

  school who would smile back at her.

  “So you like me again, huh?” he said as she made her way toward

  him.

  “Not you too,” Helen moaned. “Is there a sign on my back that

  says ‘kick me’?”

  “It’s just gossip, Helen. It can’t hurt us,” he said, wisely deciding

  not to tease her anymore.

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  “Maybe it can’t hurt you,” Helen muttered. She put a hand on her

  belly. Lucas saw her do it and was just about to ask what was

  wrong when Hector and Jason joined them.

  “Your mom’s here,” Jason told Lucas, who nodded as though he

  was expecting her.

  “What’s wrong?” Helen asked.

  “Nothing. We’re meeting with the principal because my mom is

  going to try and talk our way back on to the football team,” Lucas

  explained.

  “She’s playing the ‘have pity on a poor little woman raising so

  many gigantic boys’ card and then she’ll beg them to let us beat up

  kids from other schools instead of each other. All to the benefit of

  Nantucket High, of course,” Jason said with a grin. “It never fails.

  She’s like the Einstein of guilt.”

  “But should you three be allowed to play football?” Helen said

  with a disapproving frown. “I mean, you all have an unfair

  advantage.”

  “Keep talking, track star,” Hector replied with a little heat.

  “Helen runs because she needs a scholarship for college,” Lucas

  said, shooting Hector a warning glance. “We play sports because

  it’s expected of us. It’s annoying, actually, because we have to pretend

  to be
unbearably weak and slow.”

  “And we spend as much time making sure no one gets hurt as we

  do playing,” added Jason with a rueful smile. “The truth is we’d

  much rather be beating each other up than pretending to beat up

  mortals, but that wouldn’t look normal at all.”

  “Well, good luck on the whole looking-normal thing,” Helen said

  briskly, stepping aside to let Jason and Hector go past her.

  “I’ll find you after school,” Lucas promised her as he followed his

  cousins. He glanced back and gave her a concerned look. Helen

  tried to smile for him, but her expression was so phony she

  wondered if Lucas could feel the lie in it.

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  Helen slouched into the cafeteria, hoping to duck across the

  room without attracting too much attention. She saw Gretchen say

  something to Amy Heart and then the whole table of cheerleaders

  started laughing mockingly at Helen. It took Helen far too long to

  recover, and by the time she got herself oriented, everyone in the

  cafeteria was staring at her. She retreated to her usual table with

  Matt and Claire, sure she could feel a cramp coming on.

  “Would you please just stand up straight!” Claire barked at her.

  “There’s nothing more pathetic than watching you try to dissolve

  feetfirst into the frigging floor, and I swear if I catch you doing it

  one more time I’m going to lose it.”

  It was the last straw. Helen spun around on her heel and fled the

  cafeteria. She tried to eat her lunch in the restroom, sitting on a

  sink, but the venue was so unappetizing that she gave up on her

  sandwich after a few bites.

  She made it through her last three classes and practically ran to

  the girls’ locker room when the final bell rang, but Claire was

  already there waiting for her.

  “Sorry I yelled at you earlier,” she said bashfully. She looked so

  cute when she was apologizing that Helen couldn’t even pick up a

  grudge, let alone carry one.

  “Oh, forget it. I’ve been a flake, and I’d be angry, too, if I were

  you.” Helen threw an arm over Claire’s shoulder and led her outside

  after they changed.

  “One thing, and then I’m going to leave you alone about it until

  you come to me to talk,” Claire said as they walked past the football

  field. Helen didn’t have the patience for any more questions.

  “We’ve never even kissed, Gig,” she said, cutting Claire off.

  “Really?” Claire practically shouted. Helen nodded and bumped

  Claire playfully with her hip.

  “Really, really. I almost kissed him once, but he told me to lie

  down and go to sleep.”

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  “No way!” Claire shouted. Helen grabbed her, clamping a hand

  over her mouth.

  “He’s right over there,” she said, gesturing toward him with her

  chin. “I told you I’d tell you if anything happened. I’m not trying to

  keep secrets from you.”

  Claire gave Helen a knowing smile.

  “You’ve always kept secrets. But it’s okay. When you’re ready to

  tell me you will,” she said patiently. Then she tackled Helen, trying

  to wrestle her to the ground. Helen went along with it, pretending

  to be overpowered by her pint-sized pal, both of them laughing

  hysterically. The fun only lasted a moment.

  “Get a room,” said a boy’s amused voice.

  “You wish,” Claire answered back. “Wait. How’d you get over

  here so fast?”

  Helen rolled over onto her back, blew her tangled hair out of her

  face, and saw Lucas and Jason standing over them.

  “We saw you go down so we ran over to check it out,” Lucas said,

  ignoring Claire’s question.

  “Thanks. She is pretty ferocious,” Helen replied, allowing Claire

  to flip her over one more time before Lucas helped her up.

  “Five feet and two inches of pure terror,” Claire boasted as she

  held out her hand, expecting Jason to help her. He folded his arms

  across his chest deliberately.

  “Is that how tall you are without those ridiculous shoes?” he said

  derisively. “I think I was born bigger than that.”

  “I bet you were. Five feet of fat head and two inches of ass,”

  Claire muttered, standing up.

  “Claire!” Helen blurted out, shocked. Lucas’s shoulders were

  shaking with laughter. Jason pretended to take the joke okay, but

  Helen suspected his feelings were hurt.

  Helen bit back her own laughter and gave Claire a little pinch as

  punishment. Claire yelped in protest, pointing out that monkey

  bites had been off-limits since they were ten, and was about to say

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  something else to Jason when the Delos boys were called back to

  practice by their coach.

  Helen watched as Lucas jogged back to the football field. Running

  in the sun, he was about the most beautiful thing she’d ever

  seen.

  “Crap. We’re late,” Claire said, and they picked up their pace to

  catch up with their teammates, having to run up to the trailhead

  where Coach Tar was waiting with her clipboard. She was already

  shouting out start times, so Helen and Claire just kept running,

  calling back to their coach as they crossed over the line. Coach

  scribbled their times down, shaking her head.

  “You owe me a full minute off your last run for being late,

  Hamilton!” she shouted after them.

  “Sure, Coach!” Helen shouted back before she lowered her voice

  to berate Claire privately. “Why’d you say that to him?” she asked,

  still feeling bad for Jason.

  “Because it felt fantastic!” Claire replied unapologetically.

  “I like Jason,” Helen said, realizing it was true. He had always

  been kind to her, and he seemed to have a good head on his

  shoulders. “He’s a really nice guy, and you were awful to him.”

  “Of course you like him, because Jason is nice to everyone.

  Everyone but me. You don’t have classes with us so you haven’t

  seen him do it, but whenever we debate, he always tries to shut me

  down, arguing against whatever position I take. Even when he actually

  agrees with me, he argues just to play devil’s advocate.”

  “And why do you think he does that?” Helen asked with a little

  grin.

  “I asked him, and do you know what he said?” Claire plowed on,

  getting herself even more worked up. “He said everyone else in this

  school is afraid to stand up to me in a debate, except for him, and

  it’s good for me to have to work a little bit for once in my life!”

  “How dare he challenge you to think deeper,” Helen said with

  mock horror.

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  “Believe me, it’s not a favor. He’s just trying to prove he’s smarter

  than me.”

  “Is he?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe. Lucas is smarter than all of us, so

  there goes valedictorian. And then there’s Ariadne. She’s really

  bright, too, but I think I have her beat. We’ll see what happens,”

  Claire said, biting at her lower lip.

  She was deeply worried about all the new competition, and Helen

  hadn’t even asked her how classes were going so far. It sounded

  like Claire had basically giv
en up on her lifelong dream of graduating

  at the top of the class, and Helen hadn’t noticed.

  “I’ve been a terrible friend to you these past couple of days,

  haven’t I?” Helen asked, suddenly disgusted with herself.

  “I wouldn’t say terrible,” Claire said with a wry smile. “But you

  could do me a favor to make up for it if you like.”

  “Anything,” Helen replied immediately.

  “If you could keep Lucas awake and occupied the night before exams

  . . .” Claire said, already holding up her arms to defend herself

  from Helen’s pretend slaps. “I don’t know why you’re fighting it,

  Len. One, he’s frigging gorgeous. Two, he’s so frigging gorgeous

  you need to count it twice. Three, he saw you fall down and left

  practice to see if you were okay. That’s, like, devotion.”

  Helen didn’t know how to respond. She couldn’t exactly explain

  that Lucas had only come over to make sure she was okay because

  several of his relatives were trying to kill her. The image of Kate lying

  unconscious on the dirty ground flashed into Helen’s head and

  her stomach fluttered. Like Kate, Claire was in danger just being

  around her.

  “I gotta pick up the pace,” Helen said urgently, and Claire

  nodded.

  “Show Lucas those legs are for more than drooling over and call

  me later,” she said cheerfully before Helen sped off.

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  When Claire was out of sight, Helen sighed to herself, fighting

  back a fit of guilt. She didn’t know what she would do if anyone

  ever hurt Claire. The thought distracted her from reining in her

  stride and she almost allowed herself to run into Coach Tar’s view

  far too early. At the last moment she remembered to duck behind

  some bushes, waiting several minutes before pretending to sprint

  the last few yards. She still finished first, of course, and then had to

  spend another half hour waiting for Lucas to finish up with practice.

  If he was going to continue driving her to school in the morning,

  she decided she was going to have to come up with another

  plan for getting to work afterward.

  As soon as Helen walked in the front door of the News Store,

  Kate started following her around with a stunned look on her face.

  “Wow!” Kate managed to say after a few moments of speechlessness.

  “He’s like . . . wow! I could go to jail for even thinking what

  I’m thinking.”

  “Kate!” Helen exclaimed, throwing a balled-up napkin at her. “I

  thought you were a feminist!”